10 Jan 2025
Glasgow Chamber was delighted to learn that John Watson OBE received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Glasgow in December.
This Award was very fitting knowing the history behind the eponymous Glasgow printing company that bears the family name and which was based in Townhead.
John Watson and Company can trace its history from its founding as a small jobbing printer back to 1825. However, in the last 50 years the firm moved at pace thanks to the entrepreneurial drive of John and his team of print specialists who took the Company to new heights - ultimately becoming the largest printing company in Scotland.
An example of this can be seen on the article that appeared in our very own “Journal” in 1994 during its development phase. The firm competed internationally in the drinks business and Scotch whisky industry in particular producing high-specification labels and “tube wraps” for their dedicated and discerning customer base.
In one of the biggest corporate deals of recent years, the business was sold to Multi-Color Corporation (MCC) in Cincinnati, Ohio for a record sum in 2013.
This became MCC’s 25th global centre of printing excellence and the company then based the facility on the former Singer site in Clydebank, occupying a factory of 50,000 square feet.
MCC is a four billion US dollar business (listed on the NADAQ) and the largest label company in the world.
After this hugely successful takeover and exit for John, he then looked at helping others and those less fortunate by setting up The Watson Foundation which has been hugely involved in charitable giving in Scotland.
He has helped various organisations such as Marie Curie, Social Bite, Cancer Research UK, the restoration of the Clyde steamer TS Queen Mary, the Outward Bound Trust, NSPCC, and many more.
His philosophy was very much inspired by the Edwardian philanthropist Andrew Carnegie who felt it is his duty having been successful in business to redistribute wealth where he could.
Glasgow Chamber remembers the time when John donated a six-figure sum to assist with a lecture series as well as providing a generous amount of money to help those aspiring entrepreneurs who fell short of the necessary borrowing funds required to realise their own business ambitions.
As one of Scotland’s foremost business voices, John was honoured with a Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Award for Lifetime Achievement.
It is always good to have his input into the current state of play in the city and the West of Scotland. He also plays an important part in advising members of the Chamber Management Team.
John said: “This Honorary Degree from the University of Glasgow is a great honour - made all the more special in that it comes from a seat of learning in the very city where John Watson and Company was founded and flourished.
“We are proud of our connection to this great city and of the many Glaswegians who helped make the business such a success. I will always be grateful to them for their hard work and endeavour - the same kind of endeavour shown by so many graduates of this outstanding and world-beating University.”
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “We are delighted to confer this award on Dr John Watson OBE. Over the years, we have greatly valued his support to the University.
“We are proud to welcome him as a Doctor of the University of Glasgow, recognising his many achievements in business and philanthropy, and the help he has generously extended to others through The Watson Foundation.”
John was awarded an OBE from Her Late Majesty The Queen on the occasion of her 80th birthday for Services to the Printing Industry and Charitable Purposes in Scotland.
